Runner
by CosmicKobal
Summary: He's a runner, or at least that's what the Organization has branded him as. What's the Organization you ask? Well, read and find out! One thing's for sure though. He has something they want, and they won't stop until they get it, and him, back under their control. Action, Adventure, some romance and some teen fluff. OC/Kitty. rated for language, violence, & maybe adult situations.


**Runner**

**Chapter 1**

_A/N First, I'd like to say that none of the characters, powers, places, etc etc in this story belong to me in any way, shape or form. EXCEPT for my original main Character and anyone else I may introduce. I won't be saying it again so commit it to memory._

_If you like my story, please review. Even if you DON'T like my story, please review. Just PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know WHY you didn't like it. If all you say is that I have lots of grammatical errors or that my punctuation sucks, you aren't helping me, yourself, or fan fiction as a whole. IF however you say that my main character is leaning towards being a 'Mary Sue', or if you point out inconsistencies or continuity problems, you will have my eternal gratitude. _

_If you have a suggestion for where you would like to see this story go, please feel free to let me know. I make no promises to include your suggestions, but your idea might even spark a completely different idea._

_I don't have a Beta for this story and I do try to proofread anything I write before I post it, but no one is perfect and another perspective can do wonders for polishing up a story._

_On to the story_

The moon was almost full this night, it's pale illumination more than enough for the woodland creatures of South-Eastern New York to go about their business. There were light patches of half melted snow scattered throughout the small clearing. A small stream wound its way through the earth heading slowly but surely back out to sea. Mice, voles and other members of the rodent family would occasionally poke their heads out of their burrows. Some would decide that it was too cold and return to the warmth of their homes while other, hungrier, animals would scurry across the ground, sometimes crossing a patch of white and signaling the more alert nocturnal hunters to their position. One of these hungry hunters was an average everyday owl. Prey had been scarce recently do to an unseasonably chilly Fall and a surprise first-snow had this particular owl beginning to grow desperate. It finally noticed a plump looking mouse making a dash towards safety. With a short screech, the owl dropped from its perch and rapidly began to close the distance to its target.

50 feet...

25 feet...

10 feet...

5 feet...

The aerial hunter was only a scant 3.2 feet from its target when something large (to the owl at least) erupted from the bushes and fell to the ground less than 10 feet to the owls left. With an indignant squawk, the owl broke its chase and rose back into the sky, circling the area several times before winging off to the South-West. It would try it's luck somewhere with fewer interruptions.

Back on the ground, the 'Something large' was in fact only a 16 year old boy. This boy was 5' 8'', had short brown hair, a small Yin symbol tattoo on the back of his right and was dripping blood from a high tech looking dart impaled in his back. The dart was actually hollow and ensured a steady blood trail was left wherever he might go. His clothes were torn to shreds with large burn holes scattered randomly showing smooth unblemished skin beneath. Despite running through the forest in the middle of the night, this boy wasn't wearing shoes; not even socks!

Taking large heaving breaths, the bloodied teen got back to his feet and stumbled towards the stream.

"Crap, how far are they going to follow me?" He asked out loud as he bent down and cupped a handful of clear, almost burning cold water and splashed it on his face before cupping another and drinking it. "I have to have covered at least five or six miles so far!" Even so, he could hear the dogs baying in the distance growing louder again. A few seconds later a low flying helicopter buzzed the tips of the trees heading North.

'_looks like it's time to get moving again.' _He thought as he pushed himself up with his arms. He grunted in pain as he remembered the result of his last close encounter with his pursuers. '_Dammit, this thing hurts like hell.'_ He reached his left hand over his right shoulder to try in vain to pull the dart out again.

"Fuck!" he hissed in pain as the dart dug itself in another half inch deeper, ensuring only an even stronger blood trail for those damnable hounds to follow.

'_How have I not passed out from blood loss yet?'_ He wondered to himself as he could now hear his human pursuers as well as the dogs leading them.

With another muttered curse the young man took off again through the trees. He spent what felt like a lifetime vaulting fallen logs and small streams, clambering up small hills and slip-sliding back down the other side. When he could go no further, the scorched and bloodied teen stopped and thumped roughly against the base of a large tree.

_'A few minutes. Just a few minutes and I'll get back up.' _ He thought sluggishly as his mind started to slip into blessed unconsciousness. He began to think back on how his life used to be. Things hadn't been perfect but neither had they been as fucked up as they were now.

_'I hope Jessica's alright...' _Were his last thoughts before checked out upstairs...

**X*X*X*X*X**

_At first he dreamed of good things. Friends, his sister and some of his favorite books beings the main focus. But soon his thoughts began to turn. Images of the past few months flashing through his mind. Memories of the pain, the fear and the sheer crushing loneliness tormenting him. Next were thoughts of his sister and how she might be doing. The last he had seen of her had been a bloody haze due to his injuries, but he distinctly remembered her getting away unharmed._

_Suddenly his dreams changed again. If it weren't for the odd coloring of everything around him, he might have thought that everything was back to normal and the events of the past few months nothing but a dream. He could see the corner market just ahead of him, its plate glass windows twisted and distorted like fun house mirrors. He could see the pawnshop just down the road past the market, its window bars writhing like snakes. _

_The dreaming teen was brought out of his observations by the very faint sound of dogs barking in the distance. The barking grew steadily louder until he spotted a large pack of dogs run around the street corner ahead and turn towards him. Like any other mostly sane person, he turned tail and ran for all he was worth. Suddenly none of the building had doors anymore. Then the windows disappeared as well. The street appeared to stretch on and on forever ahead of him. The dogs practically nipping at his heals, jaws dripping saliva in anticipation of their impending meal._

_he suddenly tripped over nothing and rolled several times before coming to a stop. He looked up and saw that the dogs had him in a semi-circle. The dogs didn't even look like dogs any more. Now they just looked like horrible aberrations from a Sci-Fi channel original. He began to scoot backwards trying to put some distance between himself and the ravenous beasts only for the lead creature to crouch and pounce on the defenseless human, massive jaws tearing into flesh,_

"_No, NO-_

_X*X*X*X*X_

-NO!" The sleeping Runner woke with a short scream, clawing at the air in front of him. After a few seconds he began to calm and realized that he could hear the dogs in the distance closer than ever before. A small part of his mind registered the fact that he had probably incorporated the barking dogs into his dreams. After another few seconds he realized that he would need to start moving again or he would surely be overrun by his pursuers. He slowly rose to his feet and began to jog through the trees again. Soon he began to be able to hear sporadic roaring sounds in the distance ahead of him. With a start, he realized that what he was hearing were cars.

"Holy crap, a road!" He all but yelled in a mixture of relief and excitement. The suddenly slightly less terrified young man redoubled his efforts and was soon rewarded by skidding to a stop at the top of a steep hill. It was only about a 20 foot slide down to the edge of the , but in his sudden euphoria it could have been one hundred feet and he would have scarcely cared. So close, yet still so far away, Kyle could see car after car streaming by.

'_Huh, It can't be that late after all if there are still this many cars out... Certainly no later than 1:00 AM at the latest. Maybe I'll be able to hitch a ride?'_

The wounded teen was just preparing himself for a controlled, if somewhat speedy, decent down the short hill when he experienced the most horrible pain he had ever felt in his short life. A round fired by a bear of a man wearing a black turtleneck and balaclava, and wielding a .44 Smith & Wesson Magnum Revolver had pierced his right elbow. In the process of tearing through soft tissue, shredding cartilage and shattering bone, the .44 round severed the young runners right arm entirely.

The young man did not know any of this at the time. All he knew was the sudden pain and the sense of crashing to the ground. As he writhed on the ground only a few scant feet away from the hills edge, the teen clutched at his ruined arm and screamed out all of his pain, frustration and fear in a guttural half scream, half shout. After what could have been hours but was truly only a few short seconds, he heard a gruff and professional male voice speaking.

"This is Shaw. I have the subject incapacitated at the top of a small hill overlooking Rt 17 approximately 4 miles from Bayville. Requesting pickup and a medical team at my location."

Though appearances may be deceiving, the crippled teen was in luck. His attacker assumed that he was incapable of going anywhere when there as still one avenue of escape available. With a quick prayer to any kindhearted Deities listening in, the bloodied, exhausted and crippled teen rolled to his lift and disappeared over the edge of the steep hill, his battered body bouncing and tumbling over rocks and off of trees until he ended his wild trip in the middle of the 4-lane road. The last thing he saw was a pair of headlights streaking towards him and the last thing he heard was an odd mix of a car horn, screeching tires and the unintelligible roar of rage from the hilltop above him all mixing into one big cocktail of terror.

X*X*X*X*X

"You know, I didn't think I would like them at first, but those Linkin Log guys were pretty awesome!" Kitty exclaimed from the backseat.

"That's Linkin 'Park', Kitty, and they weren't just '_awesome_'. They were totally RAD!" Evan corrected her from the front passenger seat, pumping his fist in the air and accidentally shooting a spike from his arm through the X-vans roof. "Uhh, I can pay for that."

"Evan!" Scott said exasperatedly from behind the steering wheel. "Come on, we just finished fixing her up from the last time a mutant had too much fun in her." Scott was referring to when Bobby Drake, Jubilation Lee, Jamie Madrox and Sam Guthrie had trashed the X-van during a joyride just 2 weeks prior.

"Don't blame _me_ man, If I sneezewrong I turn into a human pincushion."

"Just try to keep it under control yeah?"

"Yes Sir oh fearless leader, Sir!" Evan did his best mock Army salute causing the rest of the teens to break into laughter. Scott just sighed as he tried to keep both eyes open and stay in the proper lane.

Some of the younger mutants,specifically Kitty, Kurt, Rogue and Evan with Scott acting as licensed chauffeur, had gone to a Linkin Park concert in a nearby city. For Kurt and Kitty, this was the first Linkin Park music either had listened to. Oh sure, they had heard a few of their songs on the radio, but they had never had anything to associate them with.

"You all better hope that Logan doesn't decide on a early morning training session. It seems like like every other day I hear him complaining to the Professor about how little discipline you guys have, especially afte-HOLD ON!" Scott had just been cruising along when he spotted something rolling down the hill ahead to to his right, finally ending up in the middle of the lane. the pickup in front of him slammed on its brakes before coming to a stop. A few seconds passed before the pickup turned into the oncoming lane to drive around something left in the road. Scott pulled up to within 15 feet of the object before realized what he was looking at was a hit-and-run victim.

"Guys, out of the van, NOW!" yelled Scott as he unbuckled his seat belt and opened his own door. He had already run up to the bloodied body before the rest had even made it out of the van.

"Get over here, he needs our help!" Scott shouted to the slower teens as he searched for a pulse on the crippled teens carotid artery. While doing this, he noticed the Blood Dart impaled in the teens back.

_Thump..._

_Thump..._

_Thump..._

_'Amazing, he's still alive. Incredible... He's even missing an arm for Christ sake!'_

It was at this point that Scott was joined by the rest of the teenage mutants. Kurt and Kitty were the first and second to reach him due to their respective powers. Rogue and Evan took a bit longer due to having to actually unbuckle and slide the back door open. Only once they had all joined Scott did the injured stranger speak.

"Please... No hospitals.."

"Scott, how is he? Is he..?" Kurt asked, dreading the answer. He had never seen a dead body before after all.

Scott had a difficult decision to make. He just hoped that he was making the right one.

"Get him in the van, We're taking him to the mansion."

End of Chapter One

A/N as long as there are people reading my stories I will continue to write them until they reach a satisfactory ending. So PLEASE, if you like what you just read and think that I should continue, just leave a quick little review. It really would mean the world to me :)


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